Memorial for celebrated Miami-Dade manager Merrett Stierheim is set. Here’s how to go

Merrett Stierheim, the Miami-Dade county manager who steered the region’s enormous run of public works projects that newcomers may take for granted today, died in July.

One of the projects Stierheim helped lead, Zoo Miami, plans a public celebration of life at its Kendall area amphitheater on Sept. 25. The date was chosen because its Stierheim’s birthday. He would have turned 91.

The memorial is free but you must reserve and check in at the entrance, said Ron Magill, Zoo Miami’s communication director.

“He is one of the founding fathers of modern-day Miami-Dade County and was a major driving force in the development and opening of what was then called Miami Metrozoo,” Magill said in an email interview with the Miami Herald. “I was privileged to have him write the forward to the coffee table book that I wrote on the history of Metrozoo and beyond proud and privileged to call him one of the greatest mentors and friends of my life. There was no one more honest, moral and dedicated to fairness and the better good than Merrett Stierheim.”

READ MORE: Merrett Stierheim, county manager who shaped modern Miami-Dade’s government, dies at 90

Stierheim, during his first decade as the county manager from 1976 to 1986, managed the spending that resulted from the “Decade of Progress” bond package that was approved in 1972. Under his leadership, Miami-Dade saw the construction of the Metrorail and Metromover public transportation systems and the 29-story Stephen P. Clark Government Center.

Stierheim was also the engine that fueled the arrival in 1980 of today’s Zoo Miami from its 1940s origins as Crandon Park Zoo to its sprawling campus in South Miami-Dade that hosts his tribute.

“Merrett was a very special mentor and friend to me,” said Magill, Zoo Miami’s spokesman since its inception. “Were it not for him, I would have left the zoo years ago when I was offered a very prestigious position at another zoo. When he found out I was going to leave, he called me up and said, ‘No, you’re not! You’re too valuable to lose!’ He asked what it would take to keep me here. I told him, not thinking anything could be done, and he said, ‘Let’s do a county reclassification of your position that better describes what you do and gives you what you deserve.’

“He helped guide me through the county reclassification process that can be very laborious and lengthy,” Magill said. “I was so moved that this man who quite frankly intimidated me very much, would go to such lengths to keep me here. Other than the founding director of the zoo, Bob Yokel, who was very close to Merrett, I had never felt as appreciated and cared about as I did by Merrett.”

If you go

What: Celebration of Life for Merrett Stierheim

When: 1 p.m.-3 p.m. Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2024.

Where: Zoo Miami Amphitheater, 12400 SW 152nd St., South Miami-Dade.

Reservations: Let the zoo’s organizers know you are attending by clicking www.zoomiami.org/rsvpstierheim . An RSVP is required and there will be a check-in list at the celebration.

Details: Light refreshments will follow the celebration. Donations may be made to the Merrett R. Stierheim Fund at Zoo Miami Foundation .